After a month of planning and sewing we did it!  The whole family was in on Em’s surprise bedroom makeover: Grandma, Grandpa, Ben, LilMan and Mammaw.  Everyone had a hand.

The Plan
We had to get Em out of the house for a whole day so Ben and I could move the furniture from her room to Grandma and Grandpa’s garage, pick up the furniture I’d refinished in their garage, then we had to paint, build a window box, and put the room together.

So to get Em out of the house: Em, LilMan and Mammaw had a sleep over at Grandma and Grandpa’s house that started at 8a.m. Saturday morning and ended Sunday afternoon at the big reveal.

The Execution 

Once we moved the furniture out, we prepped the walls , by spackling and sanding nail holes, removing light switch and outlet plates and sprayed  Kilz on the spots where Em tried to decorate the walls on her own.

This is probably the first time I’ve been able to paint a room without furniture.  I’m convinced this is the ONLY way to do it.  And generally I don’t lay down plastic, but this is a must do too!  And I did develop a new appreciation for the level of effort Dexter put into his work, laying down the plastic was more work than painting!

Tools of the trade, all purchased at Lowe’s:

• Paint trays
• Paint brushes
• Paint tray liners (easy clean up)
• Paint edger
• Plastic
• Roller
• Roller brushes

I was pleasantly surprised at how well the Valspar paint covered the room, it only took one coat!  It’s true, you get what you pay for.

Around lunch we were ready to start putting the room together. And this is when I discovered I messed up. SCRAMBLE time!

Remember the bed that I put together in the garage.  Do you notice anything missing?

The bed did NOT come with a frame that the mattress would actually sit on! Yes, it said it on the Homeclick website…ugh!  Scrambling, I called Mattress King who just happened to have a twin bed-frame at one of their locations in Huntsville, I paid over the phone and picked it up.  It had spiderwebs on it and I got it for $69 – cool and we stopped off at Panera for lunch yeah!

This was the first time Ben had ever been to Panera, that boy is just sheltered!  Anyway, that was a 2 hour detour from putting the room together.

The Big Reveal!  This what it looks like when you walk into her room.

Check out the bed curtains that Em helped make (that she thought she was doing for Grandma).  It was Ben’s idea to put the bed where it is, I had originally planned for it to go in the center of the accent wall, but after we moved it here I literally jumped and clapped out of happiness – it was PERFECT!!

Now she has a pretty dresser to store all of her “jewels” and makeup.   The big blank wall and trunk is another big present from me to Em.  The wall will be her Gallery wall so she can display all of her paintings, drawings and stuff.  The trunk, which used to be mine too, is also a gift.  I’m going to teach her how to refinish furniture.

It’s so girly!

I made this window box after we painted the room and while Ben was putting the bed together.  I’ll show you how in another post coming up and I used an electric saw, for the 1st time!

Now, I must tell you, Ben was against doing this when I had this idea last year, but he went with it because he loves me…and he knows I’m relentless. But after he saw the whole room put together, he was amazed at the difference that about $600 and some know-how and elbow grease could do.  And because of this, he was asking about my ideas for LilMan’s room.

The Surprise!

Now, it’s time for Em to see the room.  We made her close her eyes and open them for the big surprise.  Grandma, Grandpa and Mammaw hadn’t seen the room either we made them wait, despite the number of text messages.

Em was shocked!

Then she saw her gifts from the grandparents.

But later that night, Ben and I saw her sitting up in her bed just looking around and she said “I LOVE my room”.  Ben asked “Where you surprised that we redecorated your room.” and he added  ”Mom tricked you!”  and she replied with a smile “Mom lied!”

Em’s favorite part was the bed with the Fairy String Lights. 

List of Materials that I purchased:

Signature Sleep Contour 8 Inch Twin Mattress
Ultimate Clara Clark Premier 1800 Bed Sheet Set – with Majestic Embroidery – Twin Size, Lilac Lavender
TEXO Set of 54 Star-shaped LED Curtain Fairy String Lights (Purple)
Eclipse Kids Wave Blackout Window Curtain Panel, 84-Inch, Purple (note: it only includes 1 panel)
Twin Size Solid White Canopy Top Fabric (I added the lace and made the bed curtains)
Hillsdale Furniture 182DBP Bristol Canopy Daybed in White

Everything else I made or modified something old and I’ll share with you in future posts.  Now we have to redo LilMan’s room.  :)

Before you start your next DIY project, take a look at this handy infographic from UK Oak Doors, and answer the questions on the flow chart truthfully. Some DIY projects make a lot of sense, but not everyone has the skills, temperament or time to do a good job at DIY. Sometimes, it’s better to sit back and relax while someone else does all the hard work for you.

If you’re impatient, untrained, or going to need to rush the project, maybe it’s a better idea to let a professional do those big jobs. Bringing in the pros might hurt your wallet in the short term, but it’s a much better option than leaving yourself stuck with uneven shelves, a rickety door, or a shower that leaks so badly it damages the wall linking your bathroom to your bedroom.

DIY can be a lot of fun, and handling simple projects for yourself is a great way to save money and make your home your own. The sense of accomplishment from finishing a big project is nice too. The trick is deciding which projects you should do yourself, and which are best left for the experts.

Infographic by the Oak Door Specialists- UK Oak Doors.

So, I lied to to my daughter.  I felt bad about ‘tricking’ her, but I wanted her to be part of her surprise bedroom makeover.   It took me a while to figure out how we are going to make it a surprise, but it had to be a surprise because I wanted to give her one of the most memorable surprises my parents gave me, I wrote about that in the post “Start of a Surprise Bedroom Makeover”

This was the first thing I bought from Homeclick.com for $299.  I set it up in our extra garage so I could get accurate measurements when cutting the material.  Notice I used plastic on the floor – this way I didn’t have to worry too much about the material getting dirty.  I have to say, it was COLD in January in this garage!

The story (lie) built up when we started with a girls day of material shopping in Fayetteville, TN.  Where we bought all of this material so we could redecorate Grandma’s room.  Yep, Grandma was the whole reason we were shopping.  :)

We bought 15 yards of white chiffon for the bed curtains to go around the canopy daybed, 5 yards of fluffy purple material for the comforter and pillows, purple and pink for the pillows, purple rope and all they had of the purple lace that is going to be used on the canopy part of the bed.  (When Em saw the purple fluffy material she laid on top of it and said “this, we have to get this!  Can we get it for me too?”)

Em wanted to help with the sewing so much, but she was 4  and frankly I didn’t want her to mess with a sewing machine just yet.  But I did find a way to get her to help, and she was loving it.  I taught her how to rip seams.  

Yep, I messed up on a couple of pieces and Em helped a lot!  I was scared to death she’d poke herself with the seam ripper.  The key was to direct her to pull the seams ‘up-up-and away’.    She did a really good job! She was at this for over an hour and I had to pull her away to go to a birthday party.

She also helped pick the paint colors for “Grandma’s room”.   My little girl is brilliant, she placed the paint swatch over another paint swatch like this – I didn’t know that’s what the little square cut outs were for!

Em decided whether the pillows would have bling or not.

Creating is my passion, I see it in my Em and it came from my mom; who it came from before mom, I’m really not sure.  But I’m grateful that Em has people who understand her, can help grow and support her as she develops her skills in her passions. My prayer for her is that we are able to guide her and build this gift, this passion so she can live every day doing what she loves.

What gifts are you seeing build in your child/children?

Some people have a passion for creating, law, art, designing, decorating, medicine, teaching etc.  How do you know when you have passion?  Passion is when you you start something and suddenly the day is gone and you’ve forgotten to eat, forgotten to sleep, or didn’t realize that you’ve done ‘something’.  Have you ever gotten lost like that?

When I am lost in my passion, I feel at home. (that’s my quote, never been written and I’m going to make a sign for it. ). My mind is relaxed and I’m at peace.

When I’m refinishing furniture, painting picture frames, sanding, nailing, ripping, writing, editing pictures, painting, etc., I have no concept of time – I’m lost, I’m focused and I’m happy. So when it came to redoing my daughters room, while I was under a tight timeframe, when I was actually doing the work I was happy.  All of my other worries were cast aside and I was lost in the task.  When I finish something like this, I have a fleeting moment of accomplishment of a job well done and then I’m sad because it’s over. I’m sad, only because I’m thinking ‘what else can I make better?’  {which is why I’m always going to have projects}. 

I crave that passion, it’s my version of adrenaline rush: I have literally picked up furniture off the side of the road and yelled back to my son who is sitting in the car “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure!” and was thrilled for the rest of the day at my find.  I have no actual use for the piece in my house, but I see the potential in it and I have to fix it.  My husband and son see this as work, for me it is play – I can’t explain it, it just makes me happy. {shrug}

While everyone was playing Uno, I was in the cold garage giving this almost 100 year old furniture a face lift. This furniture was given to my grandparents as a wedding gift, then was handed to my mom, then handed to me and now I’m giving it to my daughter.  It has history, it has memories and now it is hers.

Here is what her furniture looked like before.

And this is the furniture while in progress.  Painting furniture is super easy.  Sand, if needed, then get Kilz tinted with the paint color you want and then polyurethane it several times, let it dry and then lightly sand with steel wool.  It just takes a bit of patience, and a lot of bending and stooping.

What is your passion? What do you get lost in? 

Silhouette is having another promotion this month!!  (the dust cover would have been handy – I had a wine/crafting accident ).

·         1 CAMEO, 1 stamping starter kit, 1 light hold cutting mat, 1 teal CAMEO dust cover for $269.99 (MSRP $351.96)
·         1 Portrait, 1 stamping starter kit, 1 light hold cutting mat, 1 grey Portrait dust cover for $129.99 (MSRP $229.96)
·         Stamping starter kit 25% off
·         Almost everything at silhouetteamerica.com will be 20% off! (Excludes Silhouette CAMEO®, Silhouette Portrait®, downloads, download cards, subscriptions, and gift cards.)
·         PLUS: all orders over $25.00 ship free (that includes the machine bundlesJ)
·         Reminder: Free shipping only applies to the lower 48 states

To take advantage of these huge savings use the Promo Code: GRINNING 

One of my fondest memories is when I was about 5 years old. My brother and I had spent a week at my Grandma and Grandpa’s farm in the early 1980s. And while Steve and I had a great time, for about three  out of seven days, we were excited to go home.

And it wasn’t because we were jerks, we were 5 and 10 years old…ok, maybe we were jerks…Anyway,  our Grandparents owned a farm. And farm Grandparents are NOT like city Grandparents: when you visit, you are cheap and well fed labor.   I wish I would have paid more attention to what Granny and Granddaddy did to make the sausage and canned green beans, sweet corn etc., – it’ll forever be the best I’ve ever had and I’m ashamed to suddenly show interested after all this time.  Pride – dang Pride; this is something I will over come tonight.  {I called my parents – stay tuned for how to make sausage, can beans and freeze corn right}.

Anyway, my fondest memory: Steve and I came home to our rooms redecorated. Mom and dad bought me a white Captains Bed which left me lots of play room and they added a small white table with red plastic chairs they had found at a garage sale. I have no idea what my brothers room looked like, but I have never forgotten the excitement of having my very own sitting area in my own room! That Christmas I also got a Holly Hobby kitchen that fit into my room.

My old room was probably half the size of Em’s.  But I imagine Em’s reaction to be like her reaction on Christmas day…her mouth open, eyes wide and saying ‘Mom, look at that!’,  ’Mom!’ all with a look of amazement, wonder,  and just awe. I want her to have that, I wanted to see that – perhaps I’m selfish…I’m not a 100% on my motive.

Here is the before picture of what her bedroom looks like when you enter her room.  Please note: it was decorated nicely before we put our house on the market and then I had to make it “move in ready” – aka boring, aka no personality.    After being on the market for about 8 months we took our house off the market  - THE BEST DECISION EVER!

So I’ve been working hard at getting personality back into the house.

View of her room from where the dresser currently stands. Ugh!

Another view.

Notice the pictures taped with blue tape on the piece of furniture and walls?  This was Em’s attempt to decorate her room with her drawings because, and I quote, “my room is boring, it needs decoration!”  She wants it decorated….Oh honey – I can do that!

Stay tuned for all of the components that will make her room Princess like.

Pillows, re-finishing furniture, re-using a comforter, refine/redesign purchased materials, build a beautiful box to go over a window and I’m sure many other things will come out of what I have in mind.

What room would you LOVE to redo and how would you make it yours?

For Valentine’s Day I created a wall design to go around gallery of pictures shown in the post “To my Valentine“.  Frankly, I was surprised it turned out as good as it did.

The idea started with just putting a saying together.  I used my Silhouette Cameo machine and I wrote out and cut  ”the gift of love brings infinite gifts” using a font I found on dafont.com called “I love what you do“.

Then I thought what would happen if I made it look like a heart?  The worst that would happen is  I’d just peel it off – right!?.  So off I went.

Using painters tape, I placed each piece and shifted them around as needed.  It was at this point that I wasn’t sure I was going to like it because it looked pretty busy. But again, what did I stand to lose?

Here is how I did it: After I placed each piece. I made sure it was level and symmetric with the piece across from it.

Then I  flipped the piece up and pulled off the transfer tape’s backing.

Using a card (this is what I had handy ) I smoothed the Silhouette Design onto the wall.

Then, I grabbed the painters tape and slowly pull off the transfer tape.

And then I was done with that piece.

Once I saw several pieces on the wall, I knew I’d love it!

If you haven’t taken advantage of the Silhouette Sale going on right now until 2/14/2014,  I hope this helps inspire you and go buy one of the best tangible gifts I’ve been given!  The creativity is endless with this machine! I LOVE my Silhouette Cameo!

Valentines Day, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day can be really tricky days to shop. I want to get something memorable and something they don’t have, and/or perhaps something personal.  Finding something like that is rarely found in Target or Walmart but I have always found a fabulous gift at RedEnvelope.com or I’ve simply just made it.

A couple of months ago I received the Deluxe Wall Gallery Frame from RedEnvelope and I knew this would be the perfect gift for my husband and our family.  Please note: RedEnvelope provided this frame as a gift to my husband and did not ask me for a post in return, I’m doing it because I put it up and I LOVE it!

Ben is away this week with limited to no access to the Internet , so I’m able to do this as a surprise Valentine’s Day Present.   I put the Gallery Frame in the hallway leading to the master bedroom.

I left a spot open for a future picture using this Photoshop Template that came from the Just The Bee’s Knees .

Some of these pictures date back before this blog.

And some of these pictures you have seen before.

The Deluxe Wall Gallery Frame is a gift that can last and show a lifetime.  It’s a perfect gift for the loved one in your life, especially if you can fill it with pictures of their loved ones (it makes it very personal and takes a lot of the work out of it. ) Check out some of the other great gift ideas that RedEnvelope.com has on their wedding gifts line!

What was the best Valentine’s Gift that you have ever been given?

Do you have something that you wish you would have bought when you saw it but didn’t? This is my shopping regret.

I was cleaning/organizing my pictures, I took this picture on my iPhone while I was in New York in some store I don’t remember in 2011.  We are now in 2014 and I wish to this day I would have bought these plates (artist palette cheese tray) and coasters!  I didn’t buy them because I thought what a pain it would be to ship them or carry them back in my luggage…3 years later I still want them and can’t find them!  This is my shopping regret….please help me right this wrong. (oh the drama of it all )

If you know where I can find them, please let me know! I still really want them…:)

I’ve had been working on a Robot themed bedroom for LilMan.  As part of my design I wanted to put Formulas all over his room (who knows maybe he’ll memorize them and it’ll serve him someday).  In order to do this I needed to take images of the formulas and make them into Silhouette Designs using Silhouette Studio Designer.  Once you get the hang of converting images into cuttable images it is easy!  Below is an example of 3 of the 15 equations that I used.  If you guys are interested in getting these, let me know and I’ll put together a post to include the files.

If this springs an idea, you MUST to take advantage of the sale Silhouette has going on between Thursday February 6-Friday February 14 with discounts on:

1. The Silhouette CAMEO®, The Silhouette Studio® Designer Edition Software, the glitter collection sketch pens, and the metallic collection sketch pens for $269.99 ($94 in savings)
2. The Silhouette Portrait™, The Silhouette Studio® Designer Edition Software, the glitter collection sketch pens, and the metallic collection sketch pens for $129.99 ($114 in savings)
3. 40% off the Silhouette Studio® Designer Edition Software!

One of the best things about is Silhouette Studio® Designer Edition Software the ability to use your own images and designs with your Silhouette machine! The Silhouette Studio® Designer Edition Software contains all the same functionality as Silhouette Studio® plus the following designer features:

• Ability to open, manipulate, and cut .svg files
• Rhinestone tools to convert designs into rhinestone templates and create your own rhinestone designs
• Sketch tools to convert designs into several styles of sketchable art
• Creative knife tools to allow you to clip designs using different patterns
• Enhanced eraser set to modify designs with more precision
• Built-in ruler and guide lines for precise alignment and drawing

To take advantage of these huge savings use the Promo Code: GRINNING 

www.silhouetteamerica.com/designer

Here’s a video about how to import your own images and develop your own Library of Images:

What design would you like to create?